Money, Money, Money

Artists cash in

22 Apr 2008 - Gone is the cliché of the struggling artist, as the the Performing Rights Society has dished out a record amount of cash so far this year.

PRS distributes what is due to songwriters and composers, and they've given out the highest ever quarterly figure, Adrian Crookes is from PRS:

"We distribute money to songwriters and composers on a quarterly basis. 

We've just done the April 2008 distribution which is our biggest ever quarterly distribution of a £110 million. 

This is a significant up on this time last year which was, I think, £70 million, and a lot of that is attributed to live music."

"We have to start thinking outside the box" -   Amanda Ghost

This is also being attributed to a ground breaking deal with You Tube, which sees artists paid everytime a song is uploaded and played online.

Artists need to get creative again

Singer-songwriter Amanda Ghost is one of those benefitting, she says the You Tube deal is an example of the music industry being forced to look at new ways of doing things - and it working:

"The great thing about the turmoil that the music business is in, is that people have to get creative again.

We have to start thinking outside the box, we have to think of ways to market things that don’t just involve getting played on the radio.

Also we have to write songs that don’t involve getting played on the radio, we have to write songs that connect with people."

This comes in the same week the O2 Arena announced record ticket sales, almost half a million in the first three months of this year, for concerts like the Spice Girls reunion, The Eagles and Linkin Park.

Ruth Barnes